


A Matter of Chemistry

by ThePagemistress



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-10-05 20:46:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10316651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePagemistress/pseuds/ThePagemistress
Summary: Felipe has just gotten the Ferrari race seat and everything is perfect. Until they present him with his engineer.For the dialogue prompt: "It's not like I missed you or anything."





	

Felipe stared at Gabriele. Gabriele stared back at Felipe.

This was not what he'd wanted.

Getting the full time Ferrari seat, alongside Michael Schumacher no less, was a dream come true. One that just a few years ago had seemed so unlikely. He knew he was fast enough to drive for the team but his performances did have a certain...inconsistent quality to them that maybe wasn't too desirable to such a prominent team. Never mind the dressing down he'd gotten from Ferrari when he'd first started testing with them and immediately thought he'd blown it.

Thankfully, he had a good group of people in his corner and his drives became more reliable and his prospects improved. He could still feel the swell of pride and joy he'd felt when he'd received the call.

He should have known that everything was going too well.

The words left his mouth before he had a chance to question whether it was a good idea. "What about Rob?"

Looks were exchanged - some confused, some resigned, others strangely 'I told you so' - before Ross Brawn said, "Rob Smedley is part of our test team. He does good work there, as you well know. He's the one who wanted to get out of a race position."

Felipe nodded his head in lieu of petulantly kicking at the ground in front of him like he wanted to do. If there was one person who had been one of the most encouraging since Day 1 of Felipe being in Formula 1, it was Rob. Even when they were on opposing teams and barely knew each other, Felipe got word that there was an engineer over in Jordan who was always talking him up. It was flattering and so when they'd had the opportunity to work together on the same team once Felipe became the test driver, he practically leapt at the chance. 

They'd hit it off immediately. They fell into a sort of friendship that usually takes years to cultivate but it was like they already knew they were there, somehow. They teased, they joked, they worked hard and always understood what each other were getting at. 

Which is why Felipe had just automatically assumed that he'd be recruited as Felipe's race engineer.

But apparently not.

Felipe honestly wasn't sure if he set out to sabotage the relationship. Other people would vouch for the fact that the chemistry between himself and Gabriele wasn't working but Felipe couldn't say for sure that he didn't play a part in that; that he maybe didn't try as hard as he could have.

It was a dangerous game to play, of course. He was only a rookie within the team and very obviously an apprentice and number two driver to Michael. Trying to make power plays so early in the season maybe wasn't the best way to go.

But it was _frustrating_. It was frustrating trying to connect with someone and understand them and have them understand you and constantly fail, _knowing_  there is someone out there who could make all this so much easier. Felipe didn't understand the lack of chemistry. He had plenty of Italian friends, after all. But every discussion they had just felt strained and it was starting to make Felipe self-conscious and force him into old mistakes.

When he got called to a meeting prior to the European GP, he was preparing for the worst.

As he sat outside the office feeling like a naughty school boy waiting to see the headmaster, he was approached by a very familiar face. "Alright, troublemaker," Rob said, grinning down at him.

"Rob! Is good to see you. You are testing today?"

Rob gave him a curious look. "Not exactly. Do you know why you're here?"

Felipe thought that was a bit of an odd way of phrasing it but shook his head. "Not really. I think maybe I cause some trouble. I do not perform as well as they would like. Or I would like."

Rob hummed in response, visibly trying to fight down a smile. Felipe was growing increasingly suspicious. "Any particular reason for that?"

Felipe narrowed his eyes, feeling more and more like this was a trap. "There are maybe some reasons, yes. But I cannot fix this so instead I need to work around it."

Rob hummed again but before he could respond, if he even had any intentions to, the office door opened and Jean Todt stepped out. "Inside please," he said and Felipe stood up, very conscious of the fact that Rob was following him inside. Felipe desperately tried to tamp down his anticipation.

Ross and Jean both stood in front of them but it was obvious that they were addressing Felipe, when they spoke. "It's come to our attention," Ross began, "that you might be having some difficulties with Gabriele. And that these difficulties are potentially impacting your performance."

"Is not him," Felipe hastened to say, suddenly worrying that he was about to get the guy fired. 'Reason for dismissal: Not Rob' is not really the way to leave a team, after all. "We just...struggle to understand," he said.

"Quite," Ross said, amused smile playing on his lips. "Well, no small amount of people have come to us with a solution to this particular problem, yourself included. _Many_ times," he stressed, making Felipe fidget under everyone's gazes. "So we asked Rob if he would be interested in rejoining a race team and we could see if this resolved the situation. He agreed to give it a shot."

Felipe had to refrain from clapping his hands with glee and hugging everyone in the room. Instead he just grinned, first at Ross and Jean and then at Rob who, in some effort to not look like he had been complicit in this plan of Felipe's, kept his smile as professional as possible. Felipe didn't think it was a very good attempt. That pleased him.

"This will be the order of things from this weekend forward," Jean said, "unless we find reason to change it yet again. Understood?"

"Of course. We will work very hard to get the results, for sure," Felipe said, as earnest as he could possibly be.

They were both dismissed and they were barely out of the door before Felipe gave into his earlier urge to clap his hands together. "This will be much better! I already feel like a weight has been lifted."

Rob just stared at him, amused smile on his face as he shook his head. "You must've been a right pain to have that kind of pull in the team already. They practically begged me to join the race team. Said you kept nagging and nagging and nagging..."

Felipe knew from the familiar teasing smirk on his face that Rob was winding him up, trying to get a reaction, but Felipe couldn't help the heat rising in his face. Because even though Rob was very obviously exaggerating, it wasn't too far from the truth. "Is not like I missed you or anything," he said, instead. "For sure, you miss me a lot, or you would not have come so easily."

"Well, aren't you full of yourself," Rob said and Felipe made a mental note of the fact that that wasn't a denial. But, as delighted as he was with this turn of events, there was something that was niggling at him.

"You are sure you are happy to come back to races? I do not want to ruin anything for you."

Rob's expression softened. "Nah. Might take some getting used to again but I miss parts of it. Some not so much. You'll just have to make it worth my while," he added with a grin.

Felipe blinked at him, surprised at his forwardness and then there was a very long, tense moment before the penny dropped and Rob's eyes widened in realisation of how that sentence could have - and was - misconstrued.

"With results," Rob quickly clarified, his face immediately an alarming shade of red that had Felipe fighting back a fit of giggles. "You're going to be a fucking nightmare," Rob said, slapping him up-side the head. "If you're going to treat me like this, I expect a podium at least."

"Yes, boss," Felipe said, grinning up at him as they walked out of the building together.


End file.
